The invention relates to a low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp having a discharge vessel which is sealed in a gastight manner and is formed in such a way that the ends at which the electrodes are located are juxtaposed. The ends are secured to a lamp cap which is provided with a projecting wall part accommodating at least a starter and current connection pins are provided on either side of the projecting wall part. A lamp of this type is known from Dutch Patent Application No. 8003277 corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,426,602 laid open to public inspection.
The lamp cap of the lamp described in said patent application mainly consists of a synthetic material and is formed to an integral unit. During the manufacture of such a lamp two juxtaposed electrode supply wires (one for each electrode) are first connected to the supply wires of a starter (and, if necessary, of a capacitor arranged parallel thereto), whereafter the lamp cap is connected to the discharge vessel (for example, by means of a suitable adhesive). The other supply wires of the electrodes are incorporated in the tubular current connection pins.
It has been found that the operation of placing the assembly of the discharge vessel with starter and supply wires in the projecting wall part and the current connection pins, respectively, requires great precision and is time-consuming when the lamp cap is definitively secured to the discharge vessel. Such a complicated step is undesirable notably in a bulk-manufacturing process.